What Made Maharaja Ranjit Singh Such A Great Sikh Leader

[chatanga]

the book was written in 1909, but when he actually said it i dont know. but it can probably be said that the Singh Sabha was in its ascendency when it happened. The Singh Sabha lehar started in the 1890s so we are possibly looking at between 50 to 70 years after Maharaja Ranjit Singh. I would personally go with about the earlier decades, as the Singh Sabha themselves devoted their early years intensively to reading and discussing Gurbani. It would seem strange that after 3 decades of activity, the SS were to be informed about the prohibition of alcohol for the Sikhs.

With the quote in regards to Maharaja, it looked to me like this drinking had become a tradition in the sikhs. Upto the times of Baba Deep Singh and later Sultan ul Quam, history is silent on the sikhs drinking, which more or less tells us that they were aware of and followed Guru Ji's injunction

.

lets say upto about the last days of the misls, history books tell us that as the SIkhs became rulers, they began to ape the moghals before them in their lifestyles.

With the constant (ab)use of alcohol by the Sikh leaders, it seems to have become a trend and then part of the culture. After so many years it would seem that the injunction actually became forgotten. I

But i can say this could very easily have happened, as from a conversation with my relative, who was in her forties,she wasn't even aware that Sikhs were forbidden to drink alcohol.

this is another discussion that took place, so if the mods feel the topic is going off-topic, we can start where this following topic left off. If this slight tangent is ok here, then i would advise forum members to read the following topic. It is very interesting:

http://www.sikhawareness.com/index.php/topic/13714-why-do-so-many-upneh-drink/?hl=upneh

[Singh559]

Interesting ^

[chatanga]

i was reading a little bit of history concerning this, and the writer (an englishman) stated that just like people from low-means or what we call the working class people in england, suddenly come into money and go crazy, because they cant handle the wealth, the Sikhs went from groups of banditry etc to rulers and they had a lot of trouble handling the change in their status, wealth, communal standing etc and basically went the same way.

Does anybody remember that lout from norfolk, a complete hooligan who won 7 million on the lottery? He is completely penniless now. He went the same way, buying cars, party after party, foriegn holidays for him and his mates etc.

[HSD2]

The English working class have always been like that. On the other hand, look at the Norweigans, they came into a lot of money and didnt go nuts.

If anything, coming into money only makes problems that already exist much worse. Or great things in society even better. It depends who comes into the money.

[VanHelsingh]

i was reading a little bit of history concerning this, and the writer (an englishman) stated that just like people from low-means or what we call the working class people in england, suddenly come into money and go crazy, because they cant handle the wealth, the Sikhs went from groups of banditry etc to rulers and they had a lot of trouble handling the change in their status, wealth, communal standing etc and basically went the same way.

That would suggest their command of Sikhi - from the viewpoint of behaving in a level-headed and moderate manner despite finding themselves at the door of wealth and power - was severely lacking in as much as they allowed their heads to be turned at the first sniff of the good life. It seems our Gurus, and certain select Sikhs of high standing, really were a class apart.

[gurdeepsinghjohal]

Gen. Hari Singh Nalwa was killed within a month when he asked Maharaja Ranjit Singh to handover Punjab to Sarbat Khalsa(I hope I am right in naming the jathebandi).

[chatanga]

That would suggest their command of Sikhi - from the viewpoint of behaving in a level-headed and moderate manner despite finding themselves at the door of wealth and power - was severely lacking in as much as they allowed their heads to be turned at the first sniff of the good life. It seems our Gurus, and certain select Sikhs of high standing, really were a class apart.

Bro, by the late 18th century possibly around 1780s/90s with the Misls taking territory and actually being able to hold onto it, the focus of the collective Dals turned from external threats to internal threats. Rather than viewing themselves as part of a collective cause, the Misls began to eye-up each others wealth. there were only 2 or 3 misls that desisted from this, The Shaheedi Misl, Nishanwalia, and the Singhpurias.

The rest of them fell to the lure of ever-expanding domains and wealth, and unfortunately they began to see each other as rivals where they had once been allies. So we can safely say that the thinking of the Sikhs had changed in that period, but i dont think it was overnight though.